Monthly Archives: August 2012

Yes I know, I’ve been reading a lot of Agatha Christie lately. I know there are millions of books out there that are probably a lot more interesting then detective books, but at the moment I like to immerse myself in the life and adventures of Hercule Poirot.

While the audiobook may be narrated by Hugh Fraser, my beloved captain Hastings does not make an appearance in this novel. It’s quite a shame because I do love this character very much.

Captain Hastings is the heart and Hercule Poirot is the brain. I do like Hercule Poirot and his methods, but it’s not the same thing if there isn’t a Captain Hastings there along side him. There aren’t anymore teasing from Hercule Poirot addressed to the very romantic Captain Hastings.

Its like a very important part of the novel is missing. And Agatha Christie could introduce many interesting/sweet characters but it will still not be the same without Captain Hastings.

Moving along, Death in the Clouds is a very interesting novel.

It’s interesting not only because of the strange death that happens in an airplane while everyone is pretty much alert (except Hercule Poirot who has stomach problems from the altitude) but interesting from many other points. As many people that actually read my blog may know (are there such people out there?) I love learning about the past and how people lived. Books are in general a good way to find out about the living conditions of old times. And Agatha Christie is one of my favorite authors from that point of view because she isn’t one to leave out details.

This is the same reason why I also love the TV series “Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot”.

The story begins with a woman being murdered in a passenger aircraft over the English Channel. None of the other passengers (including Hercule Poirot) in the cabin witnesses the murder. In fact they swear no one came near the victim. Aha! The good old impossible crime!

The plot is excellent; the characters are satisfactory; and Miss Christie’s humor is delightful. This is a “fair play” mystery — all the clues are presented to the reader, and Poirot’s hints are right on the mark. Nevertheless, very few readers will spot the murdered before the final explanation.

And this short resume of the book is pretty much on the spot. The clues are presented, everything seems to point in one direction and then everything stops with the murderer being someone who is supposed to be completely innocent. And yet that person is proven to be the most horrible of them all.

I am starting to think that Agatha Christie likes dramatic endings. This is the third novel that ends with Poirot explaining all his methods and ideas at a dinner party with all the suspects around him, and of course Chief Inspector Japp.

It’s not a bad ending, but one could just go to the last chapters and find out the entire plot in just a few minutes. It’s not actually nice, but at least her books make your brain ponder “Who did it?“.

Again a book narrated by the very handsome Hugh Fraser. I picked this book purely because of the name. It sounded interesting and exciting, after all good detective books always have a murder. But this title implies many murders.

So of course, I asked myself “If Hercule Poirot is on the job why so many murders?“. So I had to read it. The title implied that monsieur Poirot has found a murdered so smart that he got away with not just one but many murders.

And I was right, there were many murders and not many clues that would suggest the identity of the criminal.

There’s a serial killer on the loose, bent on working his way through the alphabet. And as a macabre calling card he leaves beside each victim’s corpe the ABC Railway Guide open at the name of the town where the murder has taken place.

Having begun with Andover, Bexhill and then Churston, there seems little chance of the murderer being caught – until he makes the crucial and vain mistake of challenging Hercule Poirot to frustrate his plans…

And as usual, Agatha Christie goes and makes a swift twist of plot at the end of the book and it ends.

I sometimes wonder if criminals that actually commit a murder read detective novels. I know this might sound gruesome but Agatha Christie murders seem so perfect.

I don’t usually splurge on make-up products. Make-up is not a necessity for me and it will never be.

But I decided that I should have some quality products just for those “special” times when I actually feel the need to “paint” myself. So I went online and browsed around and bought the following:

a Kabuki brush

Vaseline lipbalm

Peach lipbalm

and eyeshadow

As I said, I didn’t buy much but just a few basic things. The brush I wanted for a long time. The one that I had for a year now is pretty horrible and it recently started to make me itch whenever I used it. So after reading about different brushes I found one that was cheap considering the good reviews online.

I must say, the brush is really soft and nice.

The Vaseline and Peach lipbalm were not a necessity but I am a lipbalm freak so can you blame me? The eyeshadow, well I am very much a neutral person but the browns and the greens really fit me and those were the exact colors that I didn’t have.

And I believe this is the first time in the history of this blog that I actually posted about make-up. So cheers to that~

Agatha Christie has a very dear place in my heart. She gave me one of my favorite detectives and a most pleasant way of spending my free time.

You know, if you read detective books for quite a while you start to guess what will happen in the majority of them and they lose their charm. This fact does not apply to Agatha Christie books.

I picked “Peril at End House” for two reasons: 1. I could not sleep; 2. The audiobook is narrated by Hugh Fraser.

What better way to go to sleep than to listen to a beautiful voice telling a story. Well, the entire thing backfired on me, I was supposed to tire myself but I only grew more and more interested in this new mystery. And so I stayed up till 3 in the morning listening to this audiobook, wanting to know who did it. Here’s a short description of “Peril at End House“:

Hercule Poirot’s relaxing holiday on the Cornish coast takes an unexpected turn when he meets young and beautiful Nick Buckley. Though Nick tries to shrug off the bullet that barely missed her as one more event in her recent chain of bad luck, Poirot is convinced she needs his protection. After a fatal attack, apparently aimed at Nick but gone awry, Poirot spirits her away to a nursing home for her protection. Yet even this doesn’t prevent another attempt on her life.

Just to make things clear Nick is the nickname of a young and pretty girl.

Ahh, Agatha Christie really got me with this one. The ending was so unexpected and so shocking that I just laughed like an idiot to myself. I could’ve sworn the murderer was someone completely different. This woman has such a talent of misleading others to the wrong conclusions.

Good books have surprises in them, especially good detective books. “Peril at End House” was captivating, interesting, shocking and full of twists and turns that even Hercule Poirot seems to lose his magic touch; his “gray cells” seem to have diminished in they ability to process the information in an orderly and precise fashion.

Rarely do I have time these days to read a book in one sitting. I should complain that my sleep pattern is already messed up but who cares. I had fun. Yes, it was fun!

I really do hope to get my hand on other books that were narrated by Hugh Fraser. This man is incredible handsome. Yes, he is a real man with a beautiful soothing voice. I really love the fact that he was cast for the role of Captain Hastings in the Hercule Poirot series and that he also narrates some of the books.

This role fits him so well that its hard to say what is his real personality like.

You know, I had an interesting discussion with one of my friends today. She told me, point blank that I dress like an old lady. That’s the third time that someone pointed out that I am either “washed out”, “tense” or “out of style” in the last month.

Here’s my reply: My family makes me old.

No matter what I achieve in life, how many good things happen to me I will always return to the same house, meaning I always return to the same horrible people that I’ve known ever since I was born.

You know, people my age have fun. I pay the bills. People my age go out with friends almost every week. I work my ass out to have a job so I can pay bills. I don;t even remember when was the last time I went out. People my age have nice clothes. The last time I went shopping I bough second hand clothes and even then I was wary about my spending.

And every time I get yelled at, put down, called names and everyone blames me for their problems.

For instance one of my sister in laws was a total bitch this summer. She was the reason I quit my job. And yet no one sees my point of view. Everyone says that’s how she is and I shouldn’t have said anything.

Why? Just because she’s the “wife” of my brother does that mean I should let her walk all over me?

Okay, I got over that. I quit my job, I started all over from scratch. I am really happy with my new job. As I said the people there are really awesome and the workplace is so nice and relaxed.

But then life is a bitch and its impossible to have something good and lasting. Now my other brother is acting like an ass. Actually I can’t seem to find any English words that would describe him. Nothing comes close to what I have in my mind.

As I said, I was jobless for two months and guess who paid the bills and helped around the house only to be walked all over. And now, the piece of resistance, my brother comes home and starts calling me names in front of my mother just because father had the nerve to actually call him and complain about his behaviour.

And he starts complaining that he already has a lot of problems with the baby coming soon (yeah the idiot got his girlfriend pregnant and now acts like its our responsibility) and work is hard. Yeah right like he’s the only one working in this house.

What irks me the most is how everyone serves him food and how they all clean up after me. Yet when I got out from work at 1 in the morning I got yelled at for not washing one stupid dish. Can you believe that. At 1 AM, dead tired from a long day of work and I should’ve washed the dishes.

And here I am trying to calm down. Yeah the Internet is probably not the best place to post this kind of things but I just really wanted to say FUCK YOU ALL!!!

So here I am a too old for her age person with to many personal problems. I can’t even talk about myself in front of other people because I start crying. That’s how sad my life is.

I was so happy today. I got to clean my room, everything is nice and shinny, I got to practice my Japanese, I even went to my friend had a lovely chat, ate some watermelon, Johnny gave some good news and… here comes the ass calling me names and stuff just because he got “scolded”.

Fuck this, I’m an idiot for caring. I know that each family has its own problems but this is just to much. Fuck them all. I don’t care. If I ever cry again for them I hope I get hit by a car for being a complete moron.

All my usual news sources for kpop are full of stories regarding the issue with the original T-ara members and now ex-member Hwayoung.

This issue is just funny and sad at the same time. It just shows how the media and the fans can be manipulated in picking one side or another.

I’ll just start with this: the original T-ara members have been picked on by netizens ever since their debut. I remember this because they had so many weird concepts before they actually debuted that everyone just made fun of them.

Truthfully at that time I didn’t even pay attention to them.

Then the good days came when they had some hits and the members were being noticed for their talents (vocals, acting, variety show skills and so on).

It was all going well until their CEO decided to add new members to the group. After all its more profitable to add members to an existing popular group than to start from scratch.

And here comes Hwayoung.

At first she seems out of place. She just sticks out from the rest with her build and her way of being but yet everything seems fine and she becomes recognized as a T-ara member.

During this time a lot of things happen, members get hurt but are forced to go on stage and do their job, they are being over worked, Hwayoung has her nip slip accident, but everything passes.

Then the CEO announces more members to be added.

Why do they need more members? T-ara already has members that are barely active (hello have you forgotten about Q-ri and Boram?). Okay, the fans get over this one as well. T-ara is turning into After School so how bad can that be.

At this time Hwayoung injures her leg and she refuses to go on stage even when she is offered to sit down. Good for her! Nobody should work when they are injured. But the situation is not so good for the others, hence Hyomin and Eunjung are forced to learn Hwayoung lines and they mess up on national television. You can guess that there will be some frustration.

After all, when Eunjung was injured she took pills and performed on stage and even carried on with her acting. And the other original member seem fustrated about the situation. So they scold Hwayoung on Twitter. Yeah, not a good move but still can you blame them.

Can you blame them all?

I seriously think that the management is the problem for this entire thing. First of all, being overworked will make people a lot more grumpy than they would normally be. Second, if you force some members to perform while injured yet you allow others to back out in the same situation, well you’re going to have a bad time. And the members will most likely start resenting each other.

And that’s what happened. The original T-ara members started resenting Hwayoung. She didn’t go through the same things that they did. She did not put the same effort as they did, yet she is enjoying the success of the group.

Frustration at its best. Its just a pity that netizens can’t see this from a more objective point of view and they immediately started pointing fingers at the company, the original members and they are making Hwayoung into a victim.

Again bad management can ruin a popular group. They should’ve left the group in its original state without adding or subtracting members, without rotating the leaders (Eunjung was a good leader) or making stupid statements.

I felt somehow lonely Friday. I went to work and for the first time I felt like an outsider. It was a weird feeling considering that general atmosphere there is pretty relaxed and friendly.

So I’m blaming my stupid brain for working so hard at making a big deal out of nothing.

And with that said I am now enjoying my 3-day weekend before my night shift. And Marlanu’ is enjoying himself as much as I am.

I must admit that we are a lazy bunch. I mean, all I did today was to knit and read “Peril at end house” by Agatha Christie. Not very productive at all, but after all it is the weekend so why not indulge myself in a little bit of mystery.

I was thinking to myself while I was knitting that in the past month I was pretty washed out and tense if I might add. These two emotions (if I might call them that) really don’t mix well. The wash out part comes from me not taking much care of myself. That’s not a good thing, I admit, but really who on earth could stand wearing make up in this heat?

With make-up during the summer I feel like the the wicked witch of the west and I have this wild urge to go on the streets and scream “I’m melting“.

So the washed out sensation must be from the fact that I don’t wear make-up while everyone else does. Well, at my new job they all wear make-up.

In a way I find it weird, at my old job I was the youngest and here I’m not the youngest and all the girls are pretty, each with her own style and personality. It’s like a fashion show, seriously. And I haven’t even mentioned the Chinese girls from the 18th floor who have all these awesome clothes and look impeccable.

Jealous? A little bit. But I would’ve been more jealous a couple of years ago. Now, I just wish to get my salary and buy a new pair of sneakers and an autumn jacket. Yup, I crave for autumn and the nice cold weather.

And yet I would not refuse another outing to the beach.

This summer has been good to me. I’ve got a new job, new friends, lost weight in a healthy way, still broke but hey we can’t have them all.